May 31st Performance at Americana Nominees Announcement

tntracy said: So, booked your flight yet, West Words?

Please don’t put such thoughts in my head… 😉

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2012/05/americana-music-associations-award-nominees-to-str.html

By Tyler Kane

The Americana Music Association is set to announce their 2012 award nominees tomorrow (May 31) at 2 p.m. EST, and we will stream the live broadcast of the event right here at Paste.

The event, which will be held at the Grammy Museum’s Clive Davis Theatre in Los Angeles, will be hosted by Jim Lauderdale, and nominees will be announced by actor John C. Reilly. The event is also set to include performances by Lucinda Williams, Shelby Lynne and Robert Ellis. Music will also be provided by Buddy Miller, who will lead a band that includes Don Heffington, Greg Leisz and Don Was

The announcements are in anticipation of the Americana Honors and Awards program, which is set to take place at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tenn. on Sept. 12. The ceremony is the capstone event of the Americana Music Festival and Conference, which takes place on Sept. 12-15.

Make sure to check back tomorrow here at 2 p.m. EST for the live broadcast.

Big thanks, TO! Looking forward to hearing the songs. 🙂

Here is Billboard’s recap of the event –

http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/record-labels/backbeat-americana-music-award-noms-with-1007207352.story

Backbeat: Americana Music Award Noms With John C. Reilly, Lucinda Williams, Shelby Lynn
June 01, 2012 | By Ryan J. Downey, Los Angeles

John C. Reilly was feeling under the weather but his love of Americana music was too strong for him to stay down on Thursday morning.

The Oscar-nominated actor and Grammy winning Walk Hard comedian turned up to the Grammy Museum in downtown Los Angeles, as promised, to reveal the list of nominees for this year’s Americana Music Association Awards, despite battling a bit of illness in the days prior. “Now there’s an Americana actor, right there!” declared Jim Lauderdale, who returned as host for the intimate ceremony and played guitar in the backing band for a short concert featuring Lucinda Williams, Shelby Lynne and Robert Ellis. Buddy Miller led Lauderdale, Don Was (bass), Don Heffington (drums) and Greg Leisz (pedal steel / guitar) behind them.

Check Out All Our Backbeats Right Here
Industry folks and artists sat in the Clive Davis theater, just beside the Grammy Museum’s current heavy metal exhibit, and listened intently as Lynne sang a tune about learning music with her sister and mother, followed by Williams moving performances of “Blessed” and “You Are Loved.” The group closed the late morning event with a singalong-worthy “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” which was dedicated to Donald “Duck” Dunn, Levon Helm, Earl Scruggs and Doc Watson.

“Any time I get a chance to play with these guys, I’m there,” said Leisz, who has recorded with everyone from Beck and Tracy Chapman to John Fogerty and the Smashing Pumpkins. “[The Americana Music Assocation] is making people aware of [American roots music], like young people coming up who may have some affinity for whatever is popular at the time, maybe giving them some appreciation for where everything is coming from, the historical arc of American music.”

Jason Isbell, former member of the Drive By Truckers, led all artists with four nominations, while Gillian Welch snagged three of her own. Steve Earle was nominated for two awards, including Album and Song of the Year. Alabama Shakes, Dawes, Deep Dark Woods and Robert Ellis are up for Emerging Artist of the Year. The full list of nominations is below.

“One of my challenges when I came in 6 years ago was Americana was seen as some ‘alt-country’ thing, as a radio format. I never prescribed to that,” Americana Music Association Executive Director Jed Hilly told Billboard.biz. “I think radio formats have been one of the greatest contributors to destroying the music business in the last 20 years. I told the Board of Directors that when I came in. We were also known as a Nashville-centric organization. Quite frankly when you live in a town that has Buddy Miller, Emmylou Harris, Jim Lauderdale and the list goes on, you may be Nashville-centric. But it’s been my challenge to remove that perception.”

Under Hilly’s direction, the AMA had last year’s nom-ceremony (which included performances from Helm and Civil Wars) at New York’s Gibson Showroom. “Every year people are like, ‘What are you going to do next?’ So we were like, ‘Let’s take it to Hollywood.’ As an association, we admire those who honor legacy. It’s very important to us and our mission. So we have a great relationship with [ Grammy Museum Executive Director] Bob Santelli here. He does incredible work. We have a great relationship with Terry Stewart [President and CEO of] the Rock Hall, with Kyle Young [Director] at the Country Music Hall of Fame. They open doors.”

Reilly, of course, is a well known supporter of roots and Americana, which made him a natural choice to read this year’s nominees. “He attends Americana shows. He played with Sara Watkins not too long ago, he was at [Pioneertown, California venue] Pappy & Harriets,” Hilly pointed out. “He’s part of the community whether people know it or not, but he’s also an actor’s actor, just as Buddy Miller is a musician’s musician. And he’s a great guy. He’s sick as a dog and he still came!”

Reilly read a list of nominees that included artists like Ellis, Gillian Welch, Deep Dark Woods and frontrunner Jason Isbell (the former Drive-By Truckers member led with four nominations). The nominations ceremony was broadcast on the web by various outlets. Winners will be announced at the Americana Music Awards September 12 at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. Reilly suggested the Awards be renamed “the ‘All the Good Bands That Are Out There Awards.'”

Guests included New West Records general manager Mike Ruthig and V.P. production/catalog Peter Jesperson, Vanguard Records director of A&R Bill Bentley, Bug Music president David Hirshland, Conqueroo PR founder Cary Baker, ad exec Colleen Toombs and James Aardahl from Nissan, who sponsored the event.

“Nissan is really supportive of the Nashville creative arts scene; another side of Nashville” Hilly said of the Japanese carmaker, whose North American headquarters are in Franklin, Tennessee. “They are supporting the Americana Music Conference, the Nashville Film Festival, the Ryman, Music City Roots. They are supporting the ‘other’: the difference between commercial art and fine art. That neon exterior, the country music establishment, is a great thing and an important part of the economy. But we don’t live in that world. And Nissan has embraced all of these other elements that I would put in the fine art category and that’s a really cool thing.”

The full list of nominees is below:

Album of the Year
Here We Rest, Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit
I’ll Never Get Out of this World Alive, Steve Earle
The Harrow & The Harvest, Gillian Welch
This One’s For Him: A Tribute to Guy Clark, Various Artists

Artist of the Year
Gillian Welch
Hayes Carll
Jason Isbell
Justin Townes Earle

Emerging Artist of the Year
Alabama Shakes
Dawes
Deep Dark Woods
Robert Ellis

Song of the Year
“Alabama Pines,” written by Jason Isbell and performed by Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit
“Come Around,” written and performed by Sarah Jarosz
“I Love,” written by Tom T. Hall and performed by Patty Griffin
“Waiting on the Sky to Fall,” written and performed by Steve Earle

Instrumentalist of the Year
Buddy Miller
Chris Thile
Darrell Scott
Dave Rawlings

Duo/Group of the Year
Carolina Chocolate Drops
The Civil Wars
Gillian Welch & Dave Rawlings
Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit
Punch Brothers